Monday, December 19, 2005

The reasons why Apple is better

APPLE REALLY IS is the better way, but why? No, not for the trendy industrial design, not for the OS, not for the CPU, but for the money. It charges quite a bit, but it is not the 'reassuringly expensive' factor either, the price/performance is nothing to brag about. What makes Apple better is quite simply the fact that it doesn't compete.

If you look at the PC world, they have some amazing deals out there. Even with the Windows tax, you can find sub $300 PCs that are functional if not stupendous. They work, and for a young child, or someone who just wants to surf, they will get the job done. They will also be cheap as hell, have a power supply that may cook after a few weeks, and dangerously sharp edges on the interior.

Apple, the long forgotten subject of this article, is different. It doesn't compete against anything at all. The industrial design focus group is one turtleneck wielding man, not a watered down group of suburban housewives who fit into income category 12a, or teens in the hip-hop demographic. Nope, Apple needs to please one person.

The more important point, in fact the point is that it doesn't have an insane list of companies putting out the exact same product. It makes the case it wants to. It makes its own motherboard the way it wants, it uses the right CPU, GPU and monitor panels. Keyboard and mouse? The same, it is done the Apple way, not any other way, to its spec and with its components.

OSX? Neat. So what. More importantly, it doesn't have to use the caps that cost $.02, it can use the ones that cost $.05. Those will just work better. Need a 12,000RPM fan to cool a CPU that puts out 190W? Sure you can get them cheap, or you can get a water cooling rig that is not cheap, but it is silent, and works a hell of a lot better. Guess which one Apple chooses, and guess which one the PC masses choose?

So, the thing that makes Apple better is not the design, OS, or a mouse button less, it is not playing the same rules that govern PCs. It is more a willingness to do the right thing, not the cheap thing. Because Apple doesn't play, it wins, and that really is the better way.[via the Inquirer]